


Ghosts

by Misshood



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Morally Ambiguous Character, Resurrection, Tim Drake is Not Robin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27980526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misshood/pseuds/Misshood
Summary: Tim Drake Is the CEO of Drake Industries and has his finger in every pie, but has been continually dealing with interference from Batman and his crew. Tim Drake always knows what to do.Years after the death of his second son, Bruce Wayne begins to see him everwhere.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 2
Kudos: 83





	Ghosts

_ Tim Drake _

Tim Drake sat at his desk and waited for the bad news that was coming down the hall. He could hear the slow footsteps approaching. Someone was afraid that he would react poorly, that meant it was the new girl. She was scared because Tim could be scary, but he wouldn’t shoot the messenger. She was good at her job, if a little green. She was here for a reason. 

“Come in.” He said when she knocked on the door. 

“Mr. Drake,” She said with a broad smile, “How’s your morning going?”

“What happened to last night's shipment, Stephanie?” His voice was calm. No bite. She still flinched a little when he said her name.

“Cargo’s gone. I’ve got all of the details here, but the gist is that concentrated explosives. We aren’t sure how they weren’t detected. The drivers weren’t injured, didn’t notice anything. As far as we can tell, they went off before Jersey.”

Tim nodded and took the file that she handed to him. It was the bat. They didn’t even need to mention that, it was always the bat. 

Black Mask, Penguin, Two Face. Every Big bad in Gotham was under his thumb. It was just the good guys that he was worried about. The Bat and his side kicks were always a pain in his ass, but that was going to change soon. He had been holding on to the dirt that he had on the bat for years. Since he was nine years old. 

That always gave him quite the power rush, be he reigned himself in. Don’t get too cocky. 

“What do you think?” He asked. She looked confused for a second and her face settled with confidence.

“I think that even the Bat wouldn’t have known about those shipments. Even if he did somehow figure it out, none of the decoys were targeted. Only someone in the loop would have know, he clearly has an informant.”

She was smart. Not as smart as him, but much smarter than she let on when they had first met. She had the gall to pretend she didn’t know who he was, but she knew exactly who he was. Not just his public persona either, she knew full well his reputation and she wasn’t even pumping him for information. She had been doing it for fun. 

“You’re right,” He said, “That’s why I have someone helping me. He’s… well let’s just say he can tell when people are lying. My current project is very important and I think you are ready to be brought aboard. Ready for some highly sensitive information.”

“Is that why Wayne approached me?” She asked after Tim had revealed Batman’s secret identity to her, “It makes sense now.”

“Now that you know, do you wish you would have indulged him? If he took you in, you would have become the next Robin. That is the plan that he had in store for you as far as I can tell.”

“You hear what happened to the last guy? No way in hell.”

“Well that leads nicely into my next order of business. My current project. We’re bringing someone in from overseas. He’ll need to be watched around the clock. He’s going to stay with me, but I’ll expect you to be there whenever I can’t.”

“Alright, who am I babysitting.” 

“Jason Todd. The second Robin.”

Her face dropped, Tim didn’t suppress the small giggle.

“You mean the dead one?”

“Well,” Tim said and glanced at his watch, “If things are going to schedule that should be the case for only a few more hours.”

“How? I mean I’ve heard about Lazarus Pits. The league.” How in the hell did she know about that?

“Ra’s al Ghul does not like to share. Even if he did, I wouldn’t like to owe him a favor. There are other ways, ways that will leave him slightly more docile than the pit. There will be a conference room on the top floor, I’ll send you the exact room number and time. He’ll be waking up this afternoon and I want you to be there."

  
  
  
  


_ Bruce Wayne _

Bruce tugged at his collar, wishing he was anywhere else at the moment. It’s true, he was proud of the work he was doing. Glad that he could use his money to provide something that would help so many children, would have helped Jason. 

That was just it though, today he shouldn’t have been speaking to the public, he should be drinking enough whiskey to make him forget his own name. Or he should be diving head first into a case so that he could emerge when it was over, when he didn’t have to think about it anymore. When it wasn’t his dead son's birthday. 

He was here. Honoring Jason’s memory. He wasn’t going to say it out loud, the press may have picked up on it, but he didn’t care to check. He just shook hands with the consultants he had hired so they could go and take their seats. The he looked towards the stairs up to the podium and almost overlooked a face he was not expecting to see. 

“You came?” He asked, “You put on a suit.” 

Dick had been avoiding suits ever since he moved away from the manor, which was an instinct Bruce himself understood. 

“It’s a hard day,” Dick placed a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, “I’m proud of you, for doing all this. For facing it. The least I could do was be here.”

Bruce didn’t let the emotion he was suddenly overridden with show on his face. 

“Alfred is making dinner at the manor tonight. Come. Bring Barbara.”

Bruce mistepped, Dick’s face dropped for a second, “We actually broke up. It was a few weeks ago. I’m sure she’d be happy to come, but we aren’t exactly speaking right now.”

“I’m sorry, Dick.”

“Don’t worry about it. I think you’re holding up the crowd. I’ll see you at dinner.”

Bruce made his way to the podium, putting on his smile for the public. Dick was here. He was proud of him. Bruce hadn’t realized how much he needed that until the words had been spoken. He had one of his sons. 

He tried not to squint as the sun shone into his eyes. He was taught to find a point to look at while he spoke. Something that was just above the audience, but his eyes seemed to want to linger on faces today. 

While he spoke, his eyes went from face to face. He had been doing this for long enough that he knew it wasn’t noticeable. The audience was filled with press and Gotham elites. Towards the back of the crowd there was the staff that was going to run the shelter, as well as a few children who were being placed there by the state. 

Jason had warned him once, that if he turned him over to social services they wouldn’t be able to find him a good home. He said it was more likely he’d get placed in some group home more dangerous than the streets. 

Maybe if there was a better place for Jason to go, he wouldn't have ended up as Robin. 

There was a boy in the crown who looked like Jason. He was bigger. Probably sixteen or seventeen. He was holding the hand of a young girl with bright red hair. Maybe a brother and a sister. The red Hoodie he wore looked like Jason’s. That beat up thing the boy refused to get rid of, no matter how much Alfred had pestered him. 

“And that’s why today we are opening what we hope to be the first of many Wayne Enterprise funded homes.”

The boy crouched down to whisper something to the girl, she smiled. And then the boy looked up. He looked at Bruce with an angry grin and it was…

“Jason?” Bruce heard it echo around him. The crowd was quiet. Some looked confused, others looked surprised. Knowing. Someone moved in front of the boy before he could get another look, when he stood back up it was very clearly a different face. 

There was a cough from Luscious where he stood near the podium. A concerned look from Dick next to him. 

Bruce shook his head and continued on with his speech. It must have been his imagination. He usually kept it pretty well in check, but if he slipped once it would make sense that it was right now. 

He had been seeing Jason in his dreams for years, it was just his imagination. 


End file.
